2015 GSW oil consumption

[Tdimrtwo]

My 2015 GSW has consumed about 1qt of oil between 10k oil changes pretty much since new. Now 255k miles on the clock, and it’s using more oil, over two quarts between oil changes. I know this isn’t excessive on a car with this many miles, but i’d really like to identify the cause and cut down on oil usage, if possible. Three potential problems come to mind:
1. Worn out turbocharger
2. Stuck piston oil ring
3. Worn out valve guides
Any other likely culprits? How can I check to see what’s causing the oil consumption?

 

[Nuje]

Anything less than 0.5L/10,000km (0.5qt/6000miles) is what VW considers "normal", surprisingly enough (to me anyway), and it sounds like you're beyond that.
If it's been going through a full litre every 10K miles since new, that's definitely excessive and VW should have addressed that while still under warranty.
Given that that ship has sailed, you've hit the most likely culprits that I'm aware of. Since it's been high since new, the piston oil ring would be the most likely culprit to me, but....do you really want to go that deep into the engine to keep a save an extra litre of oil every 10K miles....?

 

[Tdimrtwo]

No, but I have read about a similar issue on the Gen2 Toyota Prius, and a “ring soak” treatment that has largely solved it without engine disassembly. So, first step is identify which case is the cause of oil consumption, then an appropriate treatment.

 

[Tdimrtwo]

I believe that you made a slight order of magnitude error. The VW normal is oil consumption that you reference is less than 0.5 L/1,000 km not 0.5 L/10,000 km. I’m well under that threshold, so VW warranty was probably never a possibility. I’d still like to do whatever I can to identify the cause and reduce consumption going forward. Maybe
1. take out glow plugs and use borescope to evaluate cylinder condition
2. check turbo free play for excessive wear
3. do an oil soak on rings if nothing else indicates the cause.

 

[Nuje]

I believe that you made a slight order of magnitude error.

I had the feeling that .5L/10K km didn't seem like all that much....despite having a distinct memory of VW's "acceptable/normal" being in the order of "I'd be concerned and not very happy if my car was going through that much oil".

So yeah - you weren't remotely close to that so VW would've told you your burn rate was entirely "normal" (or "within acceptable tolerances").

 

[oilhammer]

The EA288s normally consume some oil, lots of posts here about it. And if they are predisposed to use oil when they were new(ish), it stands to reason that they would get worse past a quarter million miles.

Chances are, whatever the acute cause of the increase is, will probably be difficult/expensive to remedy. If the engine still is running well, then.... ???

I don't think these engines will ever enjoy the longevity of the older ones. I'd wager if you took the engine all apart, you'd find the pistons, rings, and cylinders are all worn some, well beyond what a comparable age/mileage ALH would have, and perhaps the valve guides and seals are also worn out. Is it worth tearing the engine all apart to fix? How many people have all the SSTs just to take the head apart?

 

[Tdimrtwo]

Thanks for your perspective oilhammer, although wife says I have to keep my crua-powered gsw running indefinitely. I’m at 250k with only routine maintenance and dpf replaced under warranty, so I’m feeling pretty lucky, except for the oil consumption. My 2003 Jetta wagon (alh) has 330k miles and is on its second engine. (Broken crankshaft caused, I think, by a bad injector), so my personal experience has actually been better with the crua.